A trip to the post office for Wendel residents used to mean a short walk down a wooded path or a quick drive.

For the past 41⁄2 years, that has turned into a 4-mile car ride to the Manor Post Office — one that’s complicated by the fact residents have to be there when it’s open to get their mail.

“We have people that are up in age,” Sam Conyette said. “So how would you like to go, if you were 87, in sub-zero weather, to Manor?”

Not just that, there are residents who work during the day, such as Bryan Hurley. He has to make sure to get to the Manor Post Office before noon Saturdays, or the best chance for him to get his mail is gone.

He and other Wendel residents are pleading with the Hempfield supervisors for help in contacting lawmakers to have some form of mail delivery restored in their neighborhood.

“You are the people that can do something about this,” he said. “We, as the peons, can’t.”

When the U.S. Postal Service announced in January 2021 that service was being suspended at the one-story red brick post office on Wendel Road, Wendel residents thought it was temporary.

The post office serving the 15691 ZIP code left the building the following month, and residents were directed to Manor, on the other side of Route 30, to pick up their mail.

In a January 2021 letter obtained by the Trib, the agency promised to hold a community meeting, which is something residents said never has happened.

“No final decision to permanently discontinue the post office has been made,” the letter said. “A community meeting will be held later near the Wendel Post Office to explain our plans and solicit your comments concerning possible alternate means of providing postal and other services.”

In the weeks and months after the closure, a postal service spokesman said the agency was looking for a new location to serve the 15691 ZIP code.

No updates regarding mail service in Wendel were available last week, according to USPS spokesperson Mark Wahl.

Mail plummets, Postal Service loses millions

The U.S. Postal Service celebrated 250 years of service to the nation this year. The anniversary comes at a time of financial hardship as the decline in mail volume over the past 10 years has been steep, and it’s a trend that is expected to continue, according to a June report from the Office of Inspector General.

The agency has been losing millions since 2017, and President Donald Trump and others have called for privatization.

The postal service was set to cut 10,000 jobs and billions from its budget in an effort to reduce costs, the Associated Press reported in March. It was unclear if any of those cuts could affect retail locations across the country, many of which serve rural areas.

Wahl did not respond to questions about the future of small post offices.

Rector residents in 2012 faced a similar situation as Wendel when their post office closed, forcing them to drive 5 miles to Laughlintown in what was described as a temporary move by the postal service.

The same year, three other small post offices — Derry Borough, East Vandergrift and New Florence — were saved from a similar fate after new leases were signed. East Vandergrift Post Office now has limited hours. Plum’s post office was closed for about six months — during repairs to the building in 2018 and 2019.

The Wendel Post Office, where Jackie Greenawalt worked for 16 years, was a community center for members of the small village in the western part of the township where no one has a mailbox. Retail customers came from other areas, too, such as Herminie and Lincoln Hills, she said.

It was always busy — the five parking spaces were usually full, she said. The post office had been there for decades, and Wendel residents have always had to pick up their mail in person.

“Everybody went down there, you knew everybody that walked in there so it was sort of like a gathering place,” Conyette said.

The postal service was paying $750 monthly for the lease at the time it vacated the building, according to property owner Tim Szekely, whose parents transferred it to him in September 2021. In the January 2021 letter, the agency reported the lease was terminated by the landlord.

Szekely disputed that. He said the postal service didn’t renew the lease. The building has since been converted into living quarters.

Hempfield supervisors receptive

Wendel residents’ pleas for help caught the ears of Hempfield supervisors.

The group already has tried unsuccessfully on their own numerous times to contact state and federal lawmakers, but they’ve been met with frustration and red tape on top of the inconvenience of picking up mail out-of-town. On Wednesday, they attended office hours U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick’s staff had in Penn Township and the situation was referred to someone in another office who handles postal matters.

Hurley said there are 88 homes in Wendel. Linda Conyette estimated 80% of residents are elderly. She picks up mail for her household and others twice a week. Greenawalt goes once weekly. Bonnie Stahl said she’s been to the Manor Post Office twice since the one in Wendel closed — her husband goes regularly.

“What if our car breaks?” Stahl said. “It’s ridiculous.”

Township Manager Aaron Siko said he planned to pen a letter to send to federal legislators who represent the area. Supervisors talked to residents after last week’s business meeting and brainstormed possible solutions.

“I would like to see something (done),” Supervisor George Reese said. “I think everybody up here would like to see that problem resolved down there. It’s been long enough.”

Supervisor Doug Weimer suggested banks of mailboxes be set up in Wendel, which would allow carriers to deliver mail to multiple residents in a single stop, rather than a building with a postmaster.

That would be an acceptable solution to some in Wendel, though others want home delivery.

Weimer hopes the township can help clear up the situation with federal officials.

“It seems like they dropped the ball on that,” he said.

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